Vakratund's Thought Place

Archive for the ‘Stories’ Category

I know I should not have forced you to meet me but I wanted to give you something. I wanted to give you the locket I bought for you and I could not wait for the Morning. I am extremely sorry for what I have done unknowingly. Please forgive me!!

Yours Lovingly,

Sajith

PS. I Love You

The Eyes

He was reading newspaper in the balcony when a group of girls arrived at a nearby bus-stop. His concentration was broken when girls started gossiping a bit loudly. When he looked towards the source of distraction, he saw her beautiful sparkling eyes and only eyes, and then there were flashes of the night months ago, when light left those same eyes in front of him. As he came back to his senses he was unable to believe his own eyes. How can she be standing there? It is not possible.

“This cannot be true,” he told himself. In the zenith of not believing himself he kept looking towards the bus stop for it to happen again. Few moments later, she moved a bit, this time view was more clear and he saw her face and took a sigh of relief.

The same thing happened for few days that followed but on one day it happened. Those beautiful sparkling eyes met his dark black eyes, as this happened he passed a big smile to her. The girl took it as a non-friendly gesture, so, she looked away. He was disappointed with it, he wanted to see the girl’s smile. He wanted to see if her smile is also same as hers.

Their eyes met again, he smiled again, this time girl merely stretched her lips and looked away. He tried many times but with no success.

5th Letter

My Dearest Darling,

I thought you were standing there the moment I saw the eyes of the girl. It was same as yours. I was in total shock and was not relieved until I saw her face. It was very different from you. I do not know what signs are these, what has destiny planned for me. I wish you were here.

Well, Dr. Khurana told me you are recovering very fast. Good Work, keep it up!!! Keep fighting with those devils inside you. 🙂

Get Well Soon!!!

Yours Lovingly,

Sajith

PS. I Love You

The Fight

She saw him entering the OPD department of Holy Cross Hospital. He was holding a red rose and a white envelope with the name ‘Pooja’ written on it with a neat handwriting. “Now this man has crossed his limits, he is following me,” she thought. She got up from her seat and walked straight to him. As he saw her walking towards him, there was a big smile on his face, but the girl was in no mood of smiling. Her eyes were fierce red. When she reached nearby him, she said, “Why are you following me Mister” in a rough tone “I am ignoring you from past few weeks, but you have crossed your limits now. What …”

“Hey, hold on, hold on. What have I done?” he stopped her in between.

“You are asking me? This envelope surely tells that you have been following me, inquiring about me.”

“Who told you this envelope is for you?”

“Do not try to act smart. You have written my name on it.”

“Are you the only Pooja in this world?”

“OK, if this envelope is not for me then what are you doing here?” she said taking a step back but there was no change in her tone.

“You won’t believe a word of mine until I prove it to you. If you please follow me,” he said in a calm but authoritative tone and started moving.

Pooja kept standing there for a moment and then started after him. She was quietly following him but her mind was not quiet. Numerous questions were popping in her head. Finally he stopped in front of the room number 202 and waited for her to join him.

Pooja saw a big room as she entered into it. Someone, a girl, was lying on the bed beside the window. Many instruments were connected to her body and a sister was attending to her.

“Good Afternoon, Sister Maria” Pooja heard him saying to the nurse attending the girl on the bed.

“Good Afternoon, Sir. How are you doing today ? You are late by 10 minutes today?” inquired Maria.

“I have been looking for Dr. Khurana but unfortunately he is not in the hospital at the moment.” “How is she doing now?” he asked looking towards the girl on bed.

“Well she is improving,” replied Maria “but I would like your friend hmm…” she looked towards Pooja for her name.

“Puja” she said at once.

“Oh! Your name is Puja as well. Well, Puja I would like you to wait outside while Mr. Sajith meets her.” she gestured towards Pooja.

“Sister Maria, let her be here for 5 minutes, I have few things to clear with her. I’ll finish it quickly” Sajith said at once in a calm tone.

As sister Maria left the room, Sajith took out envelope and Rose from his pocket and placed them neatly on the empty table, placed next to the bed. Then he held her hand, kissed them and said, “Pooja, I would like you to meet Puja. Do you remember the girl I mentioned in my letters few days back, she is the one.” After that he explained the circumstances due to which Puja is present in the room. After the explanation he looked towards Puja and asked her to wait outside, otherwise sister Maria will get hysteric. Puja, who was totally confused on to what was happening in the room, left the room quietly with lots of question in her mind.

10th Letter

My Dearest Darling,

I spoke with Dr. Khurana last day, he told me you are doing fine. You are on the speedy path of recovery. Keep it up!!! Keep Fighting

One more thing, Thank God I have not seen that Girl for past few days. I am so relieved, she used to give me goose pimples.

Get Well Soon!!!

Yours Lovingly,

Sajith

PS. I Love You

The Inquiry

As Puja stepped outside the room she saw Sister Maria in the corridor. She walked up to her and asked, “Are you free for few minutes? I want to know about Mr. Sajith and Pooja.”

“Yes my dear,” replied Maria

“What has happened to Pooja?” Puja asked her.

“Pooja,” Maria paused “she is in coma from past month. But she is improving a lot, medically she is on Level IV of RLAS Scale.” Upon seeing the dumb look on Puja’s face she added, “In layman language, she is in confused agitated state. ”

“Is Mr. Sajith Pooja’s husband?”

“No, Pooja is his fiancée and her mother told me last week that, if Pooja would have been all right they would have been married by now” Maria paused and then said, “But one night, that dreadful night, changed everything in their life.”

“Do you know what happened on that night?” Puja inquired.

“I do not know the details, who will share such details with a nurse. I was working in the night shift when she was bought into emergency. Her body was completely soaked with the blood. From the forms and papers they filled out, I came to know that she met with a car accident. Luckily Mr. Sajith was there at that point of time otherwise she would have been dead by now.”

“Does Mr. Sajith visits her daily?” Pooja asked.

“Oh! Yes, he visits her daily without fail.”

“If she is in coma then who is reading those letters?” Puja inquired.

“No one” lied Maria being afraid of the fact that she will ask further questions.

After listening the story of Sajith and Pooja, Puja left the hospital without waiting for Sajith to come out of the room.

14th Letter

My Dearest Darling,

It is the day our marriage was scheduled but destiny had some other plans then. Anyway, you are recovering very fast, Keep up your spirits. We will marry once you have recovered.

Get Well Soon!!!

Yours Lovingly,

Sajith

PS. I Love You

The Request

Sajith was bit surprised to see Puja standing at the main door of his house and before he can react to the situation, Puja apologized for her behaviour at the OPD department of the Hospital and also for leaving without informing him. She told him that sister Maria filled her with his story and she did not have the courage to face him. After she has finished, Sajith invited her inside his house and offered her tea.

Over the tea Puja asked if she can go to hospital with him to see Pooja. Without giving any second thought to the request Sajith agreed to it.

It became her routine to visit Pooja with Sajith. Sajith never refused her company, she will not ask any questions about Pooja and him, nor about the letters he carries for her. One day on their way to the hospital Sajith told her that she share many things with Pooja, her name, her eyes and he added “her smile” when he saw Puja smiling at him pointing out his observations. He told it was her eyes that put Puja in all this trouble.

“One thing that makes you different from her is that you speak very little and Pooja just loves talking. She can start conversation with any stranger passing by as if she knows the stranger very well. This is one of the reason I miss her so much because she is just opposite to me when it comes to speaking.”

Puja never knew what forced her to visit hospital, whether it was their same eyes, same smile, same name or the destiny that has landed her here. And then one day she stopped visiting Pooja, also she stopped coming to the bus stop. Sajith never inquired where she disappeared, he had expected this to happen one day and he continued his visits to the hospital.

17th Letter

My Dearest Darling,

The decision was totally mine, I bought her back to our lives. I wanted to test our destiny. I wanted to test how far it can intermingle our paths. So, I said yes to her request. Please forgive me if it turns out to be worst nightmare of ours.

Keep up with your recovery process. Doctors have never seen such a fast recovery.

Get Well Soon!!!

Yours Lovingly,

Sajith

PS. I Love You

The Unexpected

Nearly month had passed when Sajith visited the hospital again, carrying a thick bundle of the letters in his hand. To his surprise, Pooja’s bed was empty, all the instruments were gone, he checked the drawer in the table for the letters but they were not there. He came out of the room and went straight to the reception. On the way, he found sister Maria in the staff room. He went to her and said, “Hello, sister Maria.”

From the look of her face, Sajith could tell that she was surprised to see him. “Pooja was right that you will come one day”

“What do you mean by that and where is Pooja? Her bed is empty.”

Maria, took a sigh and said, “Pooja came out of coma some 2 weeks back, Doctors put her under observation for 3 days and she was discharged from the hospital last week.”

“Why did no one told me about it?”

“You disappeared suddenly, without any prior information. Everyone tried to contact you on your cell phone, at your home but you were always unreachable.”

“I had some urgent business issues to attend, so I have to leave immediately for Singapore. But…”

“Then one day, Pooja told everyone not to contact you any more even if you contact back. She will never tell anyone the reason for doing this.” While she was speaking she walked up to her locker and took out something from it. She came back where Sajith was standing and handed him that thing. “Pooja, asked me to give it you whenever you will come to hospital. She took a week to write this letter.”

Sajith looked at the envelope with his name written on it with a clumsy handwriting. “This is not Pooja’s handwriting, hers is very neat.”

“This happens when a person comes out of coma, (s)he may face certain physical, intellectual and psychological difficulties. In the case of Pooja, physical difficulties are prominent and doctors cannot say how much time it will take the person to revive completely from these difficulties. Sometimes they are life long.”

He turned the envelope and it was sealed. When he turned his face up sister Maria has already left the room.

The Last Letter

My Dear Sajith,

I do not know where to begin, for the first time I am feeling lost for words.

First of all a big Thanks. Thanks for being there by my side, in my hardest days of Life. Thanks for supporting my family through thick and thin. Thanks for those lovely letters you have written to me, they never made complete sense to me when sister Maria used to read them. I have finished re-reading them.

I do not know how I met with that accident but if you were not there at that time, I am sure that I may not be writing this letter. But I know one thing that, that accident has changed my life and in turn yours as well.

I have spoken with Dr. Khurana, he told me though I have recovered fully but there will always be side effects. Physically, I may not be the same Pooja you have always known and I do not want to trouble you any more with me. You have suffered a lot already and I will not let you suffer any more. So, I have decided to move out of your life. I have informed my family about my decision.

Rather than sticking up with me for rest of life, please find someone else. Well, I think there is no point in looking for someone when you already know one. Puja. Your letter did mention about Puja but not your feelings towards her, which I think you are not aware of. But Puja do have some feelings for you. She wrote me one letter and gave it to me on the day she visited me without you. She mixed the letter with your letters. You are such a nice person that anyone can fall in love with you and Puja is no different. So, go ahead and find her.

One more request, please do not come after me.

Yours Lovingly Lots of Luck and Love,

Pooja

PS. I Love You too!!

He went blank after reading the letter. Tears were coming out of his eyes as he continued to stare at those two words.

Epilogue

Altar was beautifully decorated. Sajith was looking very handsome in the bridegroom’s dress. He was offering prayers to the heavenly God together with his bride, who was sitting next to him on the altar. She was looking very beautiful, very pretty and very graceful in the sari she was wearing. As a part of one verse, priest asked the Bride her name. With a sweet smile on her face and tears in her eyes she replied, “Pooja.”

Rajesh broke from the hug the moment Sanya told him that she has been tested positive or HIV. Instead of consoling her, he broke in to fight with her. He was unable to digest the bitter truth he just listened to. He cannot love the person who is HIV+. After clarifying his decision on not to carry the relationship ahead he left the place. He left Sanya on her own to fight the biased world that awaits her.

She wept kneeling on the ground, looking towards the ground into nothingness, her report clutched loosely in her hand. Suddenly a wind blew and took away the report from her hand and carried it to the stranger sitting on the bench who has witnessed the whole act but was unable to understand the root cause. He took the report and scanned it. He was startled by the contents of the report and understood the reason behind their abrupt behaviour.

After few moments Sanya realized that she has lost her report. Before she can start searching for it, the stranger was already there with the report in his hand. They looked at each other for a moment and then he handed her the report.

Sanya started to leave after taking the report but he stopped her and said, “Are you fine?”

“Yes” she said with a heavy tone.

“Would you like to have some tea in the nearby shop?”

She didn’t know who force her but she agreed to it. During tea they did not exchange any word. Sanya took this as an opportunity to relax as she does not want to discuss about her problem with anyone. Also, the stranger does not want to interfere in her matters, he was helping her in his own way. He was helping her because someone refused to help her. After they were done with the tea, the stranger asked her to drop her to her house to which she agreed. Again, no words were shared between them during their journey towards Sanya’s home.

When they reached her place, before entering her home she asked one question to the stranger, “Are you also HIV+?”

“No” replied the stranger with a smile and left the place.

***

It does not matter if you are HIV+ or not to understand the person who is HIV+. The point to understand is that (s)he needs you by his(er) side. The stranger in the story did not to do anything special but to give the girl little time for herself. A space where she can breathe freely. He was by her side when she needed someone desperately. He did not offer any solution to her problem, he listened to her problem and when you listen to someone’s problem, you have provided, say, 95% relief to the other person which is enough for the other person to search for the solution to the problem.

Fight AIDS not People with AIDS

So,

On this day, “World AIDS Day,” let’s get together and start raising awareness about HIV and AIDS.

On this day, “World AIDS Day,” let’s start making people with HIV/AIDS smile.